Most meeting facilities such as hotels and convention centers have large meeting spaces that can be subdivided into multiple rooms by movable partitions. These partitions allow different rooms within the space to be created to accommodate different uses. Each minimum-sized room requires an individual light control for controlling the lighting within the room. Typically, these controls are mounted on a permanent outer wall of the room. Each individual light control in turn is connected to a dimmer bank that directly controls the intensity of the lighting within the room. The lighting will normally comprise several sets of lights such as down lights, wall sconces, and track lights which each can be set independently at a different level of intensity.
When multiple smaller rooms are combined into a larger room, it is often desirable that the lighting be uniform throughout the larger room. Traditionally, this has required manually adjusting all the individual light controls to the same settings. But this method is subject to a number of drawbacks. For one, it is laborious and time consuming, requiring one to adjust each control to the desired setting. If the intensity of any of the lighting is to be changed thereafter, all controls must again be manually adjusted. Another drawback of the method is that it is unreliable. Because of the labor involved, the adjustment is usually done by a number of workers unfamiliar with light controls who can easily make mistakes and forget setting instructions. An additional drawback is the possibility of an unauthorized change in the lighting. The controls are often located in areas easily accessible to the room's occupants. To prevent an unauthorized change in the lighting, a lock must be mounted on each individual light control. These locks often take the form of a clear plastic case that is costly and unattractive.
Several vendors, aware of these drawbacks, offer means for "wiring up" the individual light controls together through a common connection point such as a panel of switches. The panel operates lkke an interchange with all the individual light controls and all the associated dimmers wired to the panel. Switches on the panel are then operable to connect a selected light control to several dimmers when the room associated with the several dimmers are combined.
The use of such a switch panel is one solution to the drawbacks herein mentioned, but it has its own disadvantages. The single selected control is the only means for controlling the lighting in the combined rooms. This arrangement thus sacrifices local control to a possibly remote selected control.
A major disadvantage is the lack of versatile control. An individual control whose dimmer is switched to another light control is "locked out" and will not control any lighting. Another disadvantage is the cost. These panels must be wired up on-site for the customer's needs. The wiring requires skilled labor and extensive wiring from each control to the central connection and then back to each dimmer. The extensive wiring may require conduit shielding as well to prevent interference with other electrical conductors in the area. The control connection panel must then be wired correctly with each set of wires to the appropriate terminals.
Still another disadvantage is the inflexibility of the panel connections. Once established, it is difficult to change which light controls will control which dimmers without extensive rewiring.